If you are coming down the hill too fast and are not slowed down by the speed bumps at Norwest, going towards Parramatta, right where you will most probably lose it on the bend the railing pops off its rectangular metal base leaving a piece of metal that can go into your shoulder and leave a 10 x 6 cm hole all the way down to your bone or Clavicle as the doctors call it. As you have probably guessed I know this from experience and have the photos if anyone is interested.

WOW! Sounds serious! How long are you out of action?Hoping not to sound like a sadist but... I would love to see a photo!

If you are coming down the hill too fast and are not slowed down by the speed bumps at Norwest,

sorry for your injury mate, but thats a notorious part of the cycle way where extreme caution is required. Most of the regulars are aware, some obviously are not. Bloke i was riding with had his rear tyre slip out from him in the wet, during winter, overcooked the approach and paid a painful result.Tim

If you are coming down the hill too fast and are not slowed down by the speed bumps at Norwest, going towards Parramatta, right where you will most probably lose it on the bend the railing pops off its rectangular metal base leaving a piece of metal that can go into your shoulder and leave a 10 x 6 cm hole all the way down to your bone or Clavicle as the doctors call it. As you have probably guessed I know this from experience and have the photos if anyone is interested.

WOW! Sounds serious! How long are you out of action?Hoping not to sound like a sadist but... I would love to see a photo!

Hi dtrain

I did it on 30 November last year and still feel some tightness in the shoulder. Thankfully, I didn't fracture anything, there was no nerve damage and I did not get as deep as the lung under the pect muscle. I am eternally grateful to a good samaritan who helped me get to the hospital at Norwest. Looking at the corner it is actually designed for safety. I should have just bounced off or slid along it. Unfortunately, I was very unlucky to hit a spot that I suspect has been hit before that was very unsafe. I would love to send some pictures including me impersonating Frankenstein's monster replete with blood all over my face (the sunglasses got me just beside the left-eye and there was a lot of blood) but when I click on Img all I get is Url in brackets. Copying and pasting is not working either. I agree with some of the other posts that I have red that the speed bumps are hopeless. Why can't they have speed bumps that look like those on the speed bump sign under the bridge? And, which bright spark thought of putting a speed bump in a turn?

If you are coming down the hill too fast and are not slowed down by the speed bumps at Norwest,

Hi TimW

Thank you for your story. Like many other people I am used to riding long distances on the road. Riding on pathways that have blind corners, etc, is new to me and it is new to other people, including a friend of my brothers who does triathlons around Australia and Hawaii. This friend thinks that I had the accident simply because I am inexperienced. He suggests that he would never have an accident on the M7 pathway even though he has never ridden on it. I now have a collection of stories about the M7 including one from one of the doctors at Westmead hospital with which to educate not only my brother's friend but also my brother. If there is a lesson to be learnt I think that is that knowledge is power and research is a very good thing. I must admit that I have never had to research somewhere that I was going to ride on in order to be safe.

Seriously, you need to email the first three photos and details ofthe injury to Westlink M7. That railing needs to be fixed, and I'll put money on them getting onto it right away.

Hi WombatK. My uncle is a blacksmith and that is his smithy. He also does amazing things with wood and has a woodwork workshop as well. Thanks for suggesting that I contact Westlink. I have just done that and asked that they repair that spot. Looking at the railing on other sections, the pipe railing does not fit together smoothly in other sections but this is the only section that I could see that pops off its base. I really do not think that I busted the railing because a whole lot more force is needed than even my accident was capable of. Some of the bases are apparently welded to the railings. Perhaps welding the base to the railing here would be a very good idea. Lets hope Westlink repairs that railing. By the way, if you look closely, some of my blood is still visible on the pathway. At least I think that that is my blood.

Is that a wad of something to soak up the blood or the actual muscle? (sorry for the gory question).

Wish you all the best in a speedy recovery. I always give that corner a lot of respect and wipe whatever speed I have off coming into it. (and always cheat coming back up by cycling in the gutter). The rust on the support suggests it's been like that for a while.

[quote="Rockford"]I hoped you attached some photos for extra effect to Westlink.

Is that a wad of something to soak up the blood or the actual muscle? (sorry for the gory question).

Hi Rockford

I could only attach two photos because their file size is too big. I put in the one showing the railing off the base and the one of the shoulder. Yes, that was a wad of bandage the nurse is holding. The red thing is the Pect muscle. It actually got to see the light of day for the first and last time in its life.

The bandages actually got quite painful. One doctor would come in and look at the wound and then just let go of the bandage. Another specialist would come in and do the same. The nurse would put a new bandage on and then another specialist would come in and pull it off again. The thing is, if the tape is not straitened out it goes into the wound and I couldn't really reach the bandage becasue I had a drip in the other arm. What the nurses tended to do was just put more and more tape on which didn't stick anyway. Believe it or not, in the taking of these shots my brother often forgot about the tape. So, in another way, these photos are really painful.

TimW wrote:Do you ride the M7? If you did you would understand that human error accounts for a lot of the accidents in the underpasses of the M7. particularly when 2 groups approach each other.It happens, people over cook the approach, and drift across. The ideal way to ride it is if you are with someone or a group, is to drop into single file for the bends and underpasses, then regroup and continue your conversation 2 up when it is safe. Any imbecile can understand that. However many don't which is why there are many accidents.Tim

+1. It's about risk management. There is no need to ride two abreast through the blind corners. The risk of drifting over the centreline is high. If the outside rider takes corrective action to avoid a head on he/she will take out their riding partner. Don't ride two abreast through the corners. It's idiotic.

Must say this happens a lot on the cycleway. I'm a noob that been riding it mainly weeknights for the last few months, trying to drop the kg's. Its mostly a great track, polite people, really enjoy the ability to go 40kms+ without cars. This Saturday morning however was pretty bad. Riders in groups of 3-4 overtaking me in the slow tunnels several times, they almost crashed into oncoming cyclists/walkers/me as a result and didn't even seem to care despite me voicing my displeasure

Seriously...back off and wait until you have decent line of sight, you are going to cause a bad accident. Its such a great track for EVERYBODY, the only people who ruin it are the idiots who seem to be under the impression they are halfway through a TDF stage.

TimW wrote:Do you ride the M7? If you did you would understand that human error accounts for a lot of the accidents in the underpasses of the M7. particularly when 2 groups approach each other.It happens, people over cook the approach, and drift across. The ideal way to ride it is if you are with someone or a group, is to drop into single file for the bends and underpasses, then regroup and continue your conversation 2 up when it is safe. Any imbecile can understand that. However many don't which is why there are many accidents.Tim

+1. It's about risk management. There is no need to ride two abreast through the blind corners. The risk of drifting over the centreline is high. If the outside rider takes corrective action to avoid a head on he/she will take out their riding partner. Don't ride two abreast through the corners. It's idiotic.

Must say this happens a lot on the cycleway. I'm a noob that been riding it mainly weeknights for the last few months, trying to drop the kg's. Its mostly a great track, polite people, really enjoy the ability to go 40kms+ without cars. This Saturday morning however was pretty bad. Riders in groups of 3-4 overtaking me in the slow tunnels several times, they almost crashed into oncoming cyclists/walkers/me as a result and didn't even seem to care despite me voicing my displeasure

Seriously...back off and wait until you have decent line of sight, you are going to cause a bad accident. Its such a great track for EVERYBODY, the only people who ruin it are the idiots who seem to be under the impression they are halfway through a TDF stage.

Wasn't the Patriot group was it? I did Woodstock to Old Windsor Rd and they were running about 15 strong and overtaking as a bunch .... But they were the only big bunch on the northern section. One reason I went north from Woodstock Rd was to avoid some of the big groups on the sharp underpasses between Cowpasture Rd and Prestons.

Must say this happens a lot on the cycleway. I'm a noob that been riding it mainly weeknights for the last few months, trying to drop the kg's. Its mostly a great track, polite people, really enjoy the ability to go 40kms+ without cars. This Saturday morning however was pretty bad. Riders in groups of 3-4 overtaking me in the slow tunnels several times, they almost crashed into oncoming cyclists/walkers/me as a result and didn't even seem to care despite me voicing my displeasure

Seriously...back off and wait until you have decent line of sight, you are going to cause a bad accident. Its such a great track for EVERYBODY, the only people who ruin it are the idiots who seem to be under the impression they are halfway through a TDF stage.[/quote]

Yes, I noticed it too. There was a lot of groups on Saturday. Interestingly, it was mainly singles on Sunday. One group of four riders was very considerate at that spot were there is a metal s bend. But, i guess a reason for this is that they could see me coming. I don't how this works but there always seems to be someone coming just as you are on a bend.

tonight at about 8pm saw some teenagers with bmx and a motor attached mucking around on the cycleway between richmond road and sunnyholt. They weren't wearing helmets and weren't particularly concerned with staying to either side of path.Accident waiting to happen.

dtrain wrote:tonight at about 8pm saw some teenagers with bmx and a motor attached mucking around on the cycleway between richmond road and sunnyholt. They weren't wearing helmets and weren't particularly concerned with staying to either side of path.Accident waiting to happen.

report this one to the local police. They're usually pretty good about patrolling in the school holidays as they know these morons are dangerous.

The section of path along Camden Valley Way (heading west towards Ash Rd) has a huge drop off in the concrete which poses a danger for those not aware of it. Probably around 5cm at the moment and getting bigger. I presume this is a Liverpool Council responsibility since it's after the end of the M7 path at Glenwood?